RGP CONTACT LENS INSTRUCTIONS
Instructions for Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) Contact Lenses
Click Here for a Video on RGP Lens Care
Insertion:
1. Wash your hands including your fingertips. Work over a clean surface with a clean towel.
2. Put the lens on your dry index finger. Put one drop of conditioning solution in the lens bowl.
3. Look in a mirror or at the towel. Control your eyelids with your fingers near the lashes. Place the lens on your eye, over the pupil. Once contact is on your eye, let go of your eyelids slowly to allow the contact lens to settle.
4. If contact is not centered, press on eyelid margin near contact lens and move lens over pupil or remove lens and re-insert.
Removal:
1. Wash your hands including your fingertips. Work over a clean surface with a clean towel.
2. Press on the upper and lower eyelid margins near the lens edges. Lightly press your upper and lower eyelid margins toward the lens edges to break the seal and lift the lens off your eye.
3. Clean the lens for 60 seconds with solution by rubbing both sides of the lens with mild pressure in a back and forth motion on the palm of your hand, rinse lens with fresh solution and put it in a clean contact lens case with fresh solution.
THE DO’S OF RGP CONTACT LENS WEAR
1. Report for regularly scheduled follow up care. It is the patient’s responsibility to schedule and keep appointments. Once the contact lens fitting is satisfactory, annual contact lens exams are necessary. Occasionally more often.
2. Remove your contact lenses and call our office immediately if you develop pain &/or redness, you develop foggy or cloudy vision, you experience a decrease in vision that does not clear up with a few blinks, or you suspect something is wrong. Do not re-insert the contact lens until your eye doctor has checked your eyes and contacts.
3. Always wash your hands and fingertips before you insert, remove or touch your contacts, solution, case and/or eyes.
4. Clean the lenses after wearing them and before overnight storage/disinfection to allow better disinfection and to avoid buildup of oily films, protein, bacteria/viruses and other deposits. And throw away the contact lenses as prescribed. Or use daily disposable lenses, which may reduce some potential contact lens, vision and eye health related problems.
5. Be thorough, but also gentle, when cleaning both sides of the lenses. They can break, chip or crack.
6. Use fresh solution every night and be sure that the storing case is filled with fresh solution every night. Close the top securely so that the solution does not evaporate. Carefully read and follow the contact lens solution instructions. Clear Care Plus, Unique pH and Boston Advance are usually good solution choices, but another solution may be recommended depending on your circumstances.
7. Work over a clean surface with a clean towel when inserting or removing the lenses in case a lens falls off your finger.
8. Always close the drain when working near a sink. A clean cloth or towel may be used to cover the drain.
9. Re-clean a lens that has dropped on the floor, sink, countertop, towel, your clothes or elsewhere.
10. Apply hair spray or other sprays before lens insertion or keep your eyes tightly closed until the spray has settled. Carefully apply eye make-up such as mascara and eyeliner after lens insertion, and not on the inner eyelid margins. Take off make-up after removing the contact lenses.
11. Keep a storage case and bottle of Refresh Contacts with you at all times for emergency use.
12. Keep your contact lens case clean: Rinse it with fresh solution, wipe with a clean paper towel and let it air dry each day. Clean and boil it for five minutes if it becomes contaminated, and once per week. Replace the case each month.
13. Have back-up eyeglasses. Back-up glasses in your current prescription are strongly recommended in case you need to stop wearing the contact lenses for any reason. Eyeglasses are almost always a reasonable option to contact lenses.
14. Wear protective eyewear while wearing contact lenses to prevent work, sports and other related eye injuries.
15. If you are wearing MonoVision (one eye distance, one eye near) or Bifocal/Multifocal contact lenses, be cautious with driving, potentially dangerous activities and other tasks requiring good depth perception. You may need glasses over your contact lenses to achieve sufficient depth perception. Also, you cannot fly a plane with MonoVision contact lenses, and likely not with Bifocal/Multifocal contact lenses.
16. Be aware that wearing contact lenses in general has an increased risk (and higher risk if you sleep with contact lenses on, having certain health conditions and/or not following these instructions) of potentially health and/or vision threatening eye and eyelid infections, irritations and scars. There is potential for permanent severe vision loss to the point of blindness with contact lens wear. Following these instructions reduces but does not eliminate this risk.
17. Call our office immediately if you have any concerns regarding your vision, eyes, contact lenses and/or solutions.
THE DONT’S OF RGP CONTACT LENS WEAR
1. If you develop eye irritation, redness, discharge or change in vision, do not re-insert the lens until your eye doctor has checked your eyes and lenses. Remember: IF IN DOUBT, TAKE THEM OUT!
2. Don’t wear a contact lens if the lens is chipped, cracked, changed color or has any other defect.
3. Don’t exceed the recommended wearing and replacement schedule. See below for the general beginning schedule if you are new to contacts, or if it has been a while since wearing contact lenses.
4. Don’t dry your hands on your clothes or a dirty towel. After washing your hands, dry your hands on a clean towel that is as lint-free as possible. If you need to dry your fingertips while you are handling your contact lens, wipe your fingertip on the back of your clean, dry hand.
5. Don’t use any other solutions other than those your doctor has suggested. Don’t switch or mix brands of solutions without your doctor’s knowledge and approval. Some solutions are not compatible with each other and can cause damage to your contact lenses and increase risk of irritations and infections.
6. Don’t continue using a solution that stings, burns or itches. An allergy or sensitivity to a solution can develop.
7. Don’t touch the solution bottle to anything, including the lens, the case, your fingers, eyelids or elsewhere. It can contaminate a sterile bottle of solution.
8. Don’t wet lenses by putting them in your mouth or by using your saliva. Only use approved and fresh solutions.
9. Don’t use tap water on contact lenses. Only use approved solutions for cleaning, rinsing and storing. Don’t use contact lenses in the shower, hot tubs, swimming pools or other water areas without watertight swim goggles. Serious eye infections and irritations can occur with exposure to various water sources.
10. Don’t overfill the storage case. An overfilled well can cause the lens to float up to the container edge and be chipped or cut when the lid is snapped or screwed down.
11. Don’t leave your empty contact lens case closed. Rinse the case with fresh solution, wipe with a clean lint-free cloth and allow the contact lens case to air dry every day. When the case does not get the opportunity to air dry, germs can grow. Don’t allow hairspray, make-up or soap to get into your case. Clean your lens case with mild lotion-free soap and clean water, and boil your empty case for five minutes if it gets dirty and at least weekly. Replace the contact lens case if any contamination concerns, and at least monthly.
12. Don’t put Murine, Visine … in your eyes while you are wearing contact lenses. Use only authorized eye drops. Call our office for help if you are unsure about a particular eye drop. Refresh Contacts is usually a good rewetting drop.
13. Don’t wear your lenses if you have an eye infection or irritation, a cold, flu or other overall sickness. Wear your backup eyeglasses when you are sick. Return to our office if you have an eye infection, irritation or have any concerns about your contact lenses, eyes and/or vision. Thoroughly clean and disinfect your lenses before wearing them after you are well.
14. Don’t sleep with your contact lenses on unless given the OK from your eye doctor. And be extra attentive and cautious if sleeping with your contact lenses on since this increases the risk of potentially permanent severe vision loss to the point of blindness.
15. Don’t apply eyeliner closer to the eye than the eyelash line. This can block glands in your eyelids that are important for stable tears and contact lens comfort. The make-up can also discolor the lens.
16. Don’t wear a lens that has changed color, is cracked, chipped, seems cloudy, has been exposed to water, has accumulated deposits on it or has any other defect. Don’t use contacts, solutions or rewetting drops past the expiration date.
17. Don’t use contacts that have been soaking in the same solution for one week or longer. Re-clean and disinfect the lenses prior to wearing the contact lenses again.
18. Don’t use solutions or drops that you are sensitive to or develop an allergic reaction to. Call our office for recommendations.
19. Do not share contact lenses, solutions or cases with anyone.
Also, read and follow all of the contact lens and solution inserts, Santa Rosa Contact Lenses, RGP Contact Lens Care and Contact Lens Information.
If contacts are fit with the intention of slowing the progression of myopia (nearsightedness), either with orthokeratology or soft bifocal/multifocal contact lenses, understand that fitting contacts in this manner and for this purpose is off-label. Even though many studies have indicated that fitting contact lenses in this manner is likely beneficial in slowing the progression of myopia, a slowing of myopia progression may not occur in all cases, and may or may not have an additive effect with Atropine eye drops.
If this is the first time you have worn contacts, it has been more than one month since wearing contacts or you are returning to contact lens wear after a problem, wear them for 4 hours maximum on the first day if there is no irritation. Increase 1 to 2 hours per day if there is no irritation until a maximum of 12 hours per day is reached. Return to our office for a follow-up check in one week wearing your contact lenses. Return to our office or call if there are any questions and/or concerns.